Gujarat okays Rs 4000 crore Nargol port construction

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat government has given a go-ahead to construction of the proposed port at Nargol, 120 km south of Surat. A consortium of Cargo Motors Limited and Israel Ports Company (IPC) will develop the port at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore, a state government official said.

"The Gujarat government has recently okayed the GMB bid given to the consortium. Now the work of this greenfield port will take off," said a senior official of the department of Road, Ports and Transport.

Nargol is amongst eight greenfield ports being developed by Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), the maritime regulator in Gujarat. Other ports Mundra, Pipavav, Dahej and Hazira have been made operational by private players, while Chhara, Kacchigadh and Mahuva are under various stages of development.

Nargol falls in the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor ( DMIC), about 120 km south of Surat and 140 km north of Mumbai is perceived as a multi-purpose port capable of handling solid, liquid and container cargo. The place is well connected with road and rail network. Plans are underway to expand the two-lane state highway into an eight-lane divided carriageway.

It has a draft (depth) of 11-12 metres. The developers expect to reclaim 75-150 hectares of land for developing the port, whose first phase is likely to be commissioned by 2015-2016, said a GMB official. The proposed port is estimated to have an initial cargo handling capacity of 1.2 million twenty-feet equivalent units (TEU).

When operational, it is expected to ease the burden on the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust ( JNPT) in Mumbai. The developers are also looking at the possibility of offering Roll-On-Roll-Off (RO-RO) service, where passenger and cargo vehicles can be ferried in giant ships.

Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji has undertaken work for the Chhara port in Junagadh and Larsen and Tubro is developing Kachchigadh port in Jamnagar. The consortium had won a bid in January earlier this year and was awaiting a final approval for the go ahead from the state government.

The bidding witnessed participation of at least twenty companies of which Essar, Sterlite-Vedanta consortium, Gammon India and consortium of Israel Port Company -Cargo Motors were shortlisted for the final selection. Cargo Motors runs car dealerships and is akso involved in the hospitality, logistics, construction and power industries while IPC has over 50 years of experience in maritime infrastructure.

Gujarat Maritime Board handles 41 minor ports, which have a share of 25% of the nation's total cargo and account for 80% of the total traffic handled by other non-major ports of India. Traffic at Gujarat's non-major ports grew 11.31% quarter-on-quarter to reach 63.20 million tonnes during the first quarter of the current fiscal.